Bypass surgery for moyamoya disease: concept and essence of sugical techniques

Abstract

This review describes the basic concepts of surgical revascularization for moyamoya disease, including direct and indirect bypass surgery. Direct bypass surgery can improve cerebral hemodynamics and reduce further ischemic events immediately after surgery, but may be technically challenging in some pediatric patients. Indirect bypass surgery is simple and has widely been used. However, its beneficial effects can be achieved 3 to 4 months after surgery, and surgical design is quite important to determine the extent of surgical collateral pathways. Combined bypass procedure, especially superficial temporal artery (STA) to middle cerebral artery anastomosis and indirect bypass, encephalo-duro-myo-arterio-pericranial synangiosis, is a safe and effective option to improve the short- and long-term outcome in patients with moyamoya disease. Alternative techniques are also described for specific cases with profound cerebral ischemia in the anterior cerebral artery or posterior cerebral artery territory. Special techniques to safely complete bypass surgery and avoid perioperative complications are presented, including methods to prevent delayed wound healing, to avoid facial nerve palsy after surgery, and to preserve the STA and middle meningeal artery during skin incision and craniotomy. Finally, the importance of careful management of patients is emphasized to reduce the incidence of perioperative complications, including ischemic stroke and hyperperfusion syndrome.